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It appears the file is requested even before /sys is mounted. I found an option to build firmware files into the kernel -- but even then it just hung itself trying to load the firmware file.

I get the KMS technology working by compiling drm and radeon by modules and loading them by adding radeon and fbcon to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 and echo "options radeon modeset=1" > /etc/modprobe.d/radeon-kms.conf

and the files were fetched from the kernels /firmware folder (where I placed them) and compiled into the kernel -- yet loading FAiLED.

WHY can't the firmware file be stuffed into the kernel (by default would be great), and WHY oh WHY can't I find any source code for this file anywhere when the files header claims that "This is free software; see the source for copying conditions."???

I haven't bothered trying to build it into the kernel yet, but I did have a similar problem to yours (I would get screen blanking when it tried to load R700_rlc.bin during boot and then it'd hang).

I obtained a copy of R700_rlc.bin and copied it to /lib/firmware/radeon/R700_rlc.bin, and now everything's working for me. I'm not sure if you've tried this or not, but it might be worth a shot (using R600_rlc.bin for you instead of R700_rlc.bin).

Comment

I haven't bothered trying to build it into the kernel yet, but I did have a similar problem to yours (I would get screen blanking when it tried to load R700_rlc.bin during boot and then it'd hang).

I obtained a copy of R700_rlc.bin and copied it to /lib/firmware/radeon/R700_rlc.bin, and now everything's working for me. I'm not sure if you've tried this or not, but it might be worth a shot (using R600_rlc.bin for you instead of R700_rlc.bin).

I also had this problem when building as modules, and like you, I fixed it by placing the files in /lib/firmware/radeon

However, when you do build it into the kernel then there is no /lib or /sys for that matter since the file is requested _before_ init -- this, nothing is mounted.

You have to put the firmware files into the firmware directory in the kernel source tree or set CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE_DIR.

Code:

CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE_DIR:
This option controls the directory in which the kernel build system
looks for the firmware files listed in the EXTRA_FIRMWARE option.
The default is the firmware/ directory in the kernel source tree,
but by changing this option you can point it elsewhere, such as the
/lib/firmware/ directory or another separate directory containing
firmware files.